Singlet-triplet transition in a single-electron transistor at zero magnetic field

Abstract

We report sharp peaks in the differential conductance of a single-electron transistor (SET) at low temperature, for gate voltages at which charge fluctuations are suppressed. For odd numbers of electrons we observe the expected Kondo peak at zero bias. For even numbers of electrons we generally observe Kondo-like features corresponding to excited states. For the latter, the excitation energy often decreases with gate voltage until a new zero-bias Kondo peak results. We ascribe this behavior to a singlet-triplet transition in zero magnetic field driven by the change of shape of the potential that confines the electrons in the SET.

4 p., 4 fig., 5 new ref. Rewrote 1st paragr. on p. 4. Revised author list. More detailed fit results on page 3. A plotting error in the horizontal axis of Fig. 1b and 3 was corrected, and so were the numbers in the text read from those fig. Fig. 4 was modified with a better temperature calibration (changes are a few percent). The inset of this fig. was removed as it is unnecessary here. Added remarks in the conclusion. Typos are corrected